Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus capable of generating a plurality of output images having different focus positions by reconstructing an input image.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been proposed an image pickup apparatus which calculates data obtained by an image pickup element and performs a digital image processing corresponding thereto so as to output various images. Japanese Patent No. 4752031 discloses an image pickup apparatus which simultaneously obtains a two-dimensional intensity distribution of a beam in an object space and angle information of the beam, that is, parallax information by the use of “Light Field Photography”. The two-dimensional intensity distribution of the beam and the angle information of the beam are called a light field, and three-dimensional information of the object space may be obtained by obtaining the light field. By performing a reconstruction processing on an image using the obtained light field, it is possible to perform an image focus position control called refocusing, a viewpoint changing control, a field depth control, and the like.
Further, PCT International Publication No. WO2008/050904 discloses a configuration in which a light field is obtained by using a camera array and refocusing is performed.
However, in the image pickup apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4752031 and PCT International Publication No. WO2008/050904, a user may not recognize a refocusable range (refocusing range) when photographing an object or editing an image. For this reason, it is difficult for the user to photograph a desired object or to edit an image according to the intension of the user.